Western Standard - The Pipeline： Smith Guilbeault battle over April 1 taxes.

00:00:00.000 welcome to the pipeline i'm corey morgan this is the western standards weekly panel show where a

00:00:29.040 A number of us will crawl out of the newsroom and start to dissect and analyze some of those

00:00:33.900 news issues and items that have been popping up and dominating the scroll for the week. We got a

00:00:38.880 lot of them to go through today. Lots of stuff to chew on and ruminate and think about and offer

00:00:44.460 you the solutions that, you know, I know you couldn't come up with on your own, right? All the

00:00:48.160 wisdom in this room. How could we not solve all the problems? And I'll get on to joined by the

00:00:52.460 wise. I've got our opinion editor, Nigel Henniford. I get all my wise ideas for my wife before I come

00:00:58.860 work in the morning recognizing that as a form of wisdom already absolutely works for me perfect

00:01:05.260 and our news editor dave naylor nice to be part of the two wise men and uh yeah back in studio

00:01:11.420 twice in one day the internet problems will do that for you those lights are gonna give you tan

00:01:17.980 lines exactly right well let's get to it um something i don't know if it's surprising or

00:01:24.620 not surprising but we've got some polling numbers coming out showing the the ucp seems to be doing

00:01:29.180 all right the ucp seems to be doing all right uh abacus poll out today shows them 15 points ahead

00:01:36.540 of the ndp if an election was was held today so uh you know premier smith's had some some

00:01:42.460 controversies nigel as you know and seems to have come through them on the other side and also 0.99

00:01:48.780 So interestingly, the poll shows that she would also handily defeat Nahid Nenshi

00:01:52.900 if he happens to win the NDP leadership campaign.

00:01:58.080 Not that I have any wish to be especially fair to Nahid Nenshi

00:02:03.620 or any other person who wins the NDP leadership,

00:02:06.580 but frankly, until they've had a chance to speak up, set out their stall,

00:02:10.700 it's probably a little premature to be saying, well, they'd get defeated anyway.

00:02:14.600 I mean, the man is a powerful speaker, and there are some people who will like what he says when they've had a chance to digest it.

00:02:23.940 Assuming that he is, in fact, the chosen one, that would be the time to run a poll and see how he stands up.

00:02:32.120 What I think is, however, has happened here as the Premier Smith, after an admittedly jumpy start,

00:02:40.820 But, you know, this was somebody used to driving automatic who had just been given a stick shift.

00:02:47.200 There were a few jolts along the way, but she's got the hang of it now.

00:02:52.380 And she has accurately, I think, represented the popular sentiment in Alberta

00:02:58.640 towards what the federal government has done to our primary industry

00:03:02.920 and, by extension, is doing to Albertans generally in this foolishness

00:03:07.940 that the federal government has put out with the demand for a net zero grid in an impossibly short

00:03:15.440 time. I think everybody who has experienced 30 below on a dark night understands what utter folly

00:03:23.080 that is, and they're falling in behind her. Well, I would think some of it, too. I mean,

00:03:27.700 people have gotten familiar with Premier Smith. I mean, it was a very, from the moment she ran for

00:03:32.400 the leadership, negative, negative opponents campaigning Eastern from within the UCP initially.

00:03:38.000 And then certainly in the general election later, I mean, they accused her of pretty much everything

00:03:43.060 was going to happen if she became premier. It would rain frogs, your milk would sour, 0.99

00:03:47.040 she would illegalize gay marriage or who knows what else. They accused her of anything and 0.99

00:03:50.820 everything. And people have seen after a year and some that, yes, as you said, she might be having

00:03:55.460 some troubles getting into gear with a number of items. She's not extreme. The world isn't ending.

00:04:00.240 We've seen that before with Prime Minister Harper.

00:04:02.680 I mean, they said the world was going to end when he became Prime Minister as well, and nothing of the sort happened.

00:04:08.460 Just the liberal world.

00:04:10.560 I will say, it doesn't matter what the issue is, Premier Smith seems very, very well briefed and very informed on the topic,

00:04:17.760 whether it's health care, electricity, Ukrainian refugees, whatever it is.

00:04:23.020 She's read the file, and she knows what she's talking about.

00:04:25.780 I don't think I can remember her being unprepared for a question at a press conference.

00:04:32.040 She's always got answers right on the top of her mind.

00:04:34.800 Well, you've got to remember that the Premier is somebody who would rather read a policy brief

00:04:39.920 before she goes to sleep at night than a novel.

00:04:43.060 You know, I mean, she eats and drinks this stuff, always has.

00:04:47.460 So I'm not surprised to find that she's very, very well briefed.

00:04:50.860 Well, she has been blessed for a while too, though, with an NDP. That's, you know, leaderless effectively. I mean, Rachel Notley is still hanging in there till the new leader comes in. But once they announced they become lame duck. And it does give an advantage to the government when you don't have a an established person. I mean, as you said, we will, it remains to be seen. But whether it's the head and itchy or maybe old Gil, if it keeps things exciting enough or, or somebody else, but there will be a figure at least to stand and critique and focus on being an effective opposition.

00:05:20.860 perhaps for the UCP. So, I mean, this might be reflected a bit of having a weak opposition

00:05:26.080 rather than a strong government at this time. Sorry, I'm just going to say that,

00:05:31.420 you know, the Nenshi train seems to be picking up steam. Hailed a rally in Edmonton last night.

00:05:39.460 1,200 people showed up in Edmonton for a rally. And, you know, he knows how to play to the crowd.

00:05:45.960 You know, he went backstage and came out and, you know, held up an Oilers jersey and said, you know, this is his team.

00:05:53.180 You know, he's supporting for years.

00:05:54.500 And look how well worn my Oilers jersey is.

00:05:57.000 And, you know, he deliberately leaves a brand new tag hanging out and he quickly shuffles it back.

00:06:01.880 He says, oh, no, you know, and says, you know, I'm never going to wear it.

00:06:05.040 I'm not an Edmontonian, but I do love this city.

00:06:08.000 He is, he's got years of experience in these type of crowds and he knows how to work them.

00:06:13.360 the name escapes me, I'm sorry, of the lady who withdrew this week

00:06:17.440 and through her support behind Nenshi.

00:06:23.820 So there's only five others in the race now.

00:06:25.880 But there's such a thing as momentum in politics,

00:06:29.600 and he's certainly got it.

00:06:31.500 There's one other thing that Smith has done right.

00:06:35.880 The center of gravity of public opinion on everything to do with trans

00:06:40.540 is not where the progressives think it is two-thirds of the people out there think there

00:06:47.780 are men and women and end of story she is now identified with that point of view

00:06:55.000 uh so by the way are 25 u.s states which have banned uh gender reassignment surgery

00:07:04.660 sex change operations on people under 18.

00:07:08.900 Now, she's the only leader in Canada who has done that.

00:07:14.020 But I think that there is sort of a comfortable feeling of at least she's got common sense

00:07:18.860 enough to know the difference between men and women and leave it at that. 0.96

00:07:22.800 And if people want to do something different when they're older, they can.

00:07:25.740 It's a free country.

00:07:28.320 But people are giving her credit for that as well.

00:07:31.180 Well, it's just following the lead that a lot of progressive European nations have already been doing, whether in the UK or Sweden, I believe Finland, again, they've all been saying, we're getting a little too far with the kids, leave it until they're 18.

00:07:42.540 I mean, and most people agree, despite the hysteria we hear from legacy media and activists over this, yeah, if Premier Smith truly was out to get trans children and harm them, it would have been reflected in the polls and certainly didn't.

00:07:56.560 And I'm kind of surprised no other premiers have done the same thing.

00:08:00.700 You know, you look at Doug Ford in Ontario,

00:08:03.280 and he took a step back and wants nothing to do with it.

00:08:07.640 You know, I think the mainstream media-driven hysteria

00:08:12.140 has now sort of gone away, and the dust has settled,

00:08:15.920 and people can realize, you know what, hey,

00:08:18.380 they are doing it all over Europe.

00:08:19.640 They are doing it all over the United States.

00:08:21.540 Maybe it's not such a bad thing.

00:08:22.720 To give credit where credit is due, there is one.

00:08:26.080 There are a couple of premiers who did take baby steps to begin with.

00:08:30.380 Blaine Higgs in New Brunswick probably deserves the credit for doing some things,

00:08:35.480 however small it might seem now.

00:08:38.380 He put it, he stuck his neck out a long way and nearly got it chopped off.

00:08:42.140 Yeah, he started it.

00:08:43.620 If he had not done what he did, I don't think the others could have done what they've done.

00:08:47.080 Yeah, and what he stood up for, if people didn't know, was basically parental rights in schools.

00:08:53.080 That's what he stood up for.

00:08:54.000 Same with Scott Moe in Saskatchewan.

00:08:55.180 Yeah. So I mean, to just segue a little more, that was sort of the indication that the head

00:09:00.460 and she was going to throw his hat in on the NDP leadership. He showed up at a rally with, you

00:09:05.160 know, hundreds out of the millions of Albertans that came out to scream and shout and gave a

00:09:11.360 barn burning speech about, you know, the evils of Premier Smith. And that kind of goes into where

00:09:17.400 we do have him now officially in the race. And the legacy media is dutifully lining up as they did

00:09:23.180 when he was running for mayor and pumping his tires.

00:09:27.060 But again, he's skilled.

00:09:29.120 He knows how to play the game.

00:09:31.340 He scared one of the candidates off already.

00:09:34.460 Word is that the membership doubled at the NDP

00:09:37.620 just since he entered.

00:09:39.940 Momentum is everything in this leadership.

00:09:41.600 Is this a freight train that's going to take this over?

00:09:43.940 It sounds like he's getting his old band back together.

00:09:46.460 All the people that helped him get into the first Merrill

00:09:50.300 victory in Calgary's, hired some of those people back and, you know, some old colleagues are now

00:09:55.880 as media spokesmen. So it is almost like a time warp for Mr. Nensha. Well, and I mean, I guess

00:10:04.800 some of it too, though, is okay. He's lit some fire in what had been a pretty dull NDP leadership

00:10:10.080 race, actually. I mean, people hadn't really been paying much attention to it and they're watching

00:10:14.220 it now, but can he win in the general election? That's the other question people will have. I

00:10:19.980 I mean, there's two challenges.

00:10:22.220 You can see why he's focusing in Edmonton, because two things.

00:10:24.600 Edmontonians don't like voting for Calgarian leaders.

00:10:27.900 And he has a lot of baggage in Calgary.

00:10:31.260 People are presuming he's going to pick up a bunch of Calgary seats,

00:10:35.200 but Calgarians don't all fondly remember Nhat Nitsch's term as mayor.

00:10:40.900 It wasn't that long ago.

00:10:41.500 There were lots of tax increases.

00:10:44.460 And the poll I was talking, Abacus poll showed him, you know, he would lose to Daniel Smith.

00:10:48.600 So he's not going to, you know, take over, you know, on a political role to go right into the Premier's office.

00:10:55.640 He's got a lot of work to do.

00:10:57.260 And you're right, Corey, there's a lot, you know, certainly in my small circle of friends, there's no love lost for Nahed Nenshi.

00:11:06.860 So, you know, he's got some work to do.

00:11:08.940 Did you hear the rumor that was going around that they've actually got a psychiatrist on the Nenshi team just so everybody plays nicely together?

00:11:15.620 Well, maybe he got the same one as what he had in City Hall.

00:11:19.920 I mean, that is the beginning of it.

00:11:21.720 And I mean, probably had him on a retainer still.

00:11:23.780 I'm not a, I've never been a fan of Ned Sheehan.

00:11:27.560 And I, you know, I've poked at him over the years on a number of things.

00:11:30.380 And he gives a lot.

00:11:31.340 And I tell you, I'm going to be reminding people of some of his things.

00:11:33.740 As I reminded recently on social media, he gave 300 and some thousand Calgarian tax dollars

00:11:38.780 to the Pembina Institute.

00:11:39.880 Like the city was contracting an anti-oil group to advise.

00:11:44.360 You know, he spent so heavily and taxed so hard that business groups actually rallied at City Hall.

00:11:52.980 You don't see business owners waving signs and screaming.

00:11:56.040 And, you know, they were that desperate.

00:11:57.300 Their backs were against the wall.

00:11:59.720 I'm going to remind people of that.

00:12:01.140 And the last big vote he was involved in, the Olympic plebiscite, he lost.

00:12:06.340 You know, that was his dream.

00:12:07.720 That was going to be his legacy, Olympics again in Calgary, because he's always been a huge Olympic fan.

00:12:12.040 And he lost that vote.

00:12:14.120 So, yeah, he's not the powerful force in Calgary that he used to be.

00:12:18.980 He'll have some years to work on it if he wins the leadership.

00:12:21.640 I would say he does appear to be a top contender at this time.

00:12:24.640 Some of the question was whether the NDP would embrace the pragmatism of going for somebody like Nehedenchi 0.99

00:12:30.960 rather than a union sort or somebody who put in their tie.

00:12:34.340 It looks like his takeover doesn't matter whether they're going to embrace it or not.

00:12:36.980 Kathleen Ganley, she was a perceived frontrunner. 1.00

00:12:40.380 She's going to have to up her game.

00:12:43.500 Yes, I think Mr. Menchie is going to have to depend very heavily on people forgetting the things that you've just brought up.

00:12:56.500 So your job, you have one job.

00:13:00.400 The other part that will be interesting to watch, presuming he wins too, though, and people have critiqued him on it many a time.

00:13:06.700 As you said, he brought in a psychologist to try and calm the council that he had stirred up like a nest of hornets.

00:13:12.560 Leading a political party is a whole world different than running a council,

00:13:17.640 which he had difficulty with 14 people.

00:13:19.900 You're going to have a caucus full of ambitious people, people with different ideas.

00:13:24.320 Gil McGowan will have his nose on a joint, and he's entrenched on your party board,

00:13:27.700 whether you like him or not, so you better figure out how to play nice with him.

00:13:31.120 He's really going to have to learn some contrition and compromise,

00:13:35.540 which are two things that he's never been capable of before.

00:13:38.100 Nope, it's a whole new game for him.

00:13:39.260 It almost makes you want to join the party and work your way up just to be the fly on the wall, doesn't it?

00:13:46.500 Yeah, well, I tried to run for a nomination with them at one time, but they declined me.

00:13:50.860 Perhaps it was your photo of you sitting in the outhouse.

00:13:53.880 I was making a valid political point. 0.99

00:13:56.400 I even have my best pussy hat on for that. 1.00

00:13:59.480 Well, we'll watch and see. 0.99

00:14:00.500 I mean, he's not one to be underestimated anyways.

00:14:02.700 That's one thing.

00:14:03.420 You know, he's got challenges, but he's got strengths, too.

00:14:05.500 He is a good communicator, and some people think very fondly of him.

00:14:08.180 And it might turn the tide.

00:14:11.020 We'll see.

00:14:11.500 He's got a few years to work on it.

00:14:14.240 Well, let's get over to Ottawa.

00:14:17.400 You know, Corey, I'm going to do a rude thing.

00:14:19.400 I'm going to interrupt you.

00:14:20.120 Yeah.

00:14:20.440 You probably didn't get the revised schedule.

00:14:24.520 I probably didn't.

00:14:25.780 No.

00:14:26.220 So we need to talk about Edmonton.

00:14:28.660 Okay, let's talk about Edmonton.

00:14:29.560 We need to talk about Edmonton City Council.

00:14:32.360 And Post Media, give them credit.

00:14:34.860 They had a great story today that the province is looking at maybe coming in and taking over, basically, auditing the books.

00:14:43.340 David Stamples, good story.

00:14:45.440 Premier confirmed it at a press conference today.

00:14:48.540 She basically said that, you know, it's up to Edmonton.

00:14:52.160 They're waiting for a phone call from Mayor Sohi.

00:14:54.320 They were, you know, she said, we're willing to help.

00:14:57.520 Municipal Affairs Minister Rick McIver, willing to help.

00:15:00.880 But apparently there will be a letter sent at some point on Wednesday to McIver outlining concerns.

00:15:07.740 There were questions about fraud and bullying.

00:15:12.740 And a legislature source told me that the economic situation in Edmonton is pretty grim in terms of money mismanagement and how much money they have online.

00:15:25.760 So, Premier Smith confirmed they're going to move in if need be, and they're just waiting for the call.

00:15:31.480 So, a hugely significant story.

00:15:33.800 You know, you hear sometimes about school boards being replaced or the mayor of Chestermere being kicked out.

00:15:39.520 But for the province to move in on the capital city, unheard of.

00:15:43.400 Certainly is.

00:15:45.200 You're right about the stories about boards and councils being taken over.

00:15:50.380 I mean, actually, there's a beautiful irony in this.

00:15:53.200 and back in the late 90s the premier herself danielle smith was a member of the calgary

00:16:00.720 school board that got taken over by the provincial government of the day so she's

00:16:06.080 lyle olberg i think who had to step in yeah so i the details of all that i never knew firsthand

00:16:12.880 and what i was told i've forgotten but uh i always thought that must be an extremely unusual

00:16:19.920 situation and i guess it is but sometimes the senior level of government has to come to the

00:16:25.120 rescue of the of the junior one especially when they're led by former liberal cabinet ministers

00:16:32.400 so he is i don't know that we can necessarily blame all the problems on one person but

00:16:38.800 again as long as we're exploring the field of irony there it is when you talk about rats fleeing

00:16:44.000 the sinking ship and i don't mean to to call them rats by any means but eight senior edmonton

00:16:49.440 officials have left recently, including the city manager, you know, basically the top guy.

00:16:57.560 They've all left. They know something's coming down. They know that, hey, there's problems here.

00:17:03.640 So it's going to be a massive news story. I think it will be well received. I mean,

00:17:07.680 a government would never take something like that lightly. I mean, imagine if our provincial

00:17:12.660 government was getting haywire and we were in some sort of a deadlock in the legislature and

00:17:17.600 Prime Minister Trudeau said,

00:17:18.760 oh, I'm gonna ride my horse in

00:17:20.140 and take over and put things back in order.

00:17:24.400 Even if we had a local mess, that's our mess.

00:17:26.740 I don't think Edmontonians might appreciate the premier.

00:17:29.140 You'll notice the premier is very carefully saying,

00:17:31.460 we're waiting for the letter.

00:17:33.200 Nobody is gonna push the doors open and barge in.

00:17:36.900 They're gonna have to be invited in.

00:17:39.140 But that's gonna be a very hard letter

00:17:40.660 for anybody in Edmonton to write

00:17:43.820 in the city administration.

00:17:46.120 sounds like come and help us sounds like it may not come from administration but it may come from

00:17:51.720 counselors saying look this is happening we need you to investigate we need you to uh we need you

00:17:57.480 to help and yeah you know talking about edmonton edmonton is a ndp city so uh you're right corey

00:18:03.000 they're not going to be looked at uh very nicely for taking over unless the situation is so bad

00:18:09.080 that they you know an edmontonian can say okay you better get in there because it's their tax dollars

00:18:15.240 And the governments have the ability, like I know people who aren't, you know, constitutional weenies, I guess, or whatever,

00:18:20.400 but realize that the provincial government is constitutionally entrenched with their authority and things they can do,

00:18:25.880 and the federal government is.

00:18:27.200 Municipal governments, though, they're actually controlled by, and they are an arm of the provincial government.

00:18:32.880 They can step in at will and change things in those.

00:18:36.460 They don't have the autonomy that other levels of government would.

00:18:39.160 So, I mean, not that the provincial government would be eager to step in, but they do have the authority to if they have to.

00:18:44.340 Or if they must. Yeah, that's right. You know, maybe we should have expected that something was more seriously wrong in Edmonton than we ever suspected. Just by some of the news stories that have come out of Edmonton. I'm thinking of the homeless camps and the, you know, the parlous state of affairs.

00:19:04.140 Electric buses.

00:19:05.500 They've had a transit fiasco.

00:19:07.180 I mean, their LRT expansion is hopelessly delayed and not working and being rebuilt.

00:19:11.440 Their own buses are falling apart.

00:19:12.940 Their electric buses aren't working.

00:19:14.480 I mean, these are major civic issues, and they don't seem to be able to get a grasp on it.

00:19:17.900 Well, and just the general tone of the place, the homelessness and how that translates into a public safety threat on the transit or even just walking down the street.

00:19:29.660 Sometimes wokeism actually is the thing that kills itself because you just can't make it work.

00:19:37.140 Premier Smith was asked about Medicine Hat.

00:19:39.840 Why aren't you intervening in Medicine Hat?

00:19:41.580 They're a mess.

00:19:42.620 And they are right now.

00:19:43.920 They're in all sorts of trouble.

00:19:46.140 And the Premier replied, well, you know what?

00:19:48.020 They're not in financial trouble.

00:19:50.300 They've got their own corporations.

00:19:51.820 They've got their gas corporation and whatnot.

00:19:54.360 So, you know, let them work it out.

00:19:57.080 There's no real urgency for us to get in because there's no financial crises, which, again, leads more to the fact that perhaps Edmonton is about to announce one.

00:20:07.560 Well, and that's going to be interesting to watch. I mean, I'm really looking forward to seeing what comes up because cities are more constrained.

00:20:12.360 They can't run deficit budgets like other levels of government can. There's ways they work around it.

00:20:17.080 I know Calgary likes dumping its debt on their crown corporation, and they also find ways that they can issue bonds that can, you know, get them a workaround for debt.

00:20:26.700 but still they're pretty limited. They can't borrow uncontrollably like provincial and federal

00:20:31.160 governments do. So it's going to be interesting to see how Edmonton or what's so dire that they

00:20:35.820 did with their finances then that they can't. That's going to be interesting to see.

00:20:41.120 You're now back on course. Yes, back to Ottawa, the other land of the loons.

00:20:45.840 The Sound of Silence is the title on this. We've got a couple of parts and we're talking

00:20:50.500 And April 1st, tax increases.

00:20:54.500 Tax increases.

00:20:55.720 We got your carbon tax going up, your alcohol tax going up.

00:21:01.220 MPs are okay because they're getting a big raise.

00:21:03.460 They'll be able to cover all that.

00:21:06.240 So there was, and provincially in Alberta, the fuel tax goes back on.

00:21:11.500 So our loony environment minister, Gilbo, tweeted out this weekend,

00:21:16.600 hey, you know, why don't you, you know, we've got our carbon tax,

00:21:19.300 you've got your carbon tax.

00:21:20.500 stop being picky about it. Premier Smith replied, well, sir, our fuel tax goes to build roads and

00:21:28.780 to fix roads, whereas your carbon tax does absolutely nothing. Then there was yesterday,

00:21:37.320 four or five premiers wrote letters to the government demanding to testify in front of

00:21:44.740 the Commons Finance Committee about the carbon tax.

00:21:47.980 They were rejected.

00:21:50.600 Premier Moe today on Wednesday was able to get onto a lesser committee

00:21:55.220 and jousted with some Liberal MPs there.

00:21:59.700 And Premier Smith is going to do the same thing today,

00:22:03.380 or sorry, on Thursday.

00:22:05.660 So they don't get the Finance Committee, but they get a lower committee.

00:22:09.680 So April Fool, April Fool's on all of us, suggest you all fill up your gas tanks on March 31st, drain every gas station you can find, because, you know, gas is going up markedly on April 1st, and the foolish battle between Alberta and the feds continue.

00:22:32.460 So is that the day you're going to start taking the C train then?

00:22:34.660 No, because my, well, no, my commute is going to be screwed for the next 18 months while the city of Calgary fixes a bridge.

00:22:43.740 It's going to take them 15 months, 16, 17 months to fix a bridge, for God's sake. 0.65

00:22:48.900 It's ludicrous.

00:22:49.720 Yeah, I posted that.

00:22:51.220 But that's another issue.

00:22:52.240 Yeah, the Empire State Building was built, you know, almost 100 years ago in a matter of a year.

00:22:57.120 Calgary can't rehabilitate a bridge in less than a year and a half.

00:23:00.760 Yeah, we've got some issues here that may need some.

00:23:03.580 Please, Premier Smith, move in, take over the bridge, at least.

00:23:08.220 But this carbon tax, I mean, it's really, it's turning into quite a battle.

00:23:12.580 I mean, the government's pulling out all the stops.

00:23:14.600 They've got this lineup of university economists now to all come out together and say that they love the carbon tax and it's good for Canadians and blah, blah, blah.

00:23:25.560 Nobody's buying it.

00:23:26.980 You know, the premiers are revolting.

00:23:28.800 The citizens have had it.

00:23:30.040 But this liberal government is just prepared to die on this hill.

00:23:34.780 Well, it is because they know they're not going to get reelected in 2025.

00:23:40.240 On October the, what is it now?

00:23:42.860 It's a week later than it was.

00:23:43.860 It's 27th.

00:23:45.260 27th, that's right, yes.

00:23:46.400 They know that they're not going to get reelected.

00:23:48.460 They know that they've got their pensions locked in.

00:23:51.240 And so they're now just going to say, listen, we've got nothing left to save.

00:23:56.900 we will just do everything we ever said we would do and people can suffer the consequences of it

00:24:04.000 because it'll be good for them. And that is the second thing about this. This carbon tax is not

00:24:10.020 what they say it is. It is actually intended to change people's behavior. Mr. Trudeau said that

00:24:18.500 himself when he was made an address in Calgary last month, earlier this month, up at the Southern

00:24:26.140 alberta institute of technology and he said we mean this to change people's behavior it's a market

00:24:33.580 solution he said as if that deceived any conservative in the crowd so the

00:24:40.140 whatever whatever serves the interests of this climate change religion to which they

00:24:48.600 subscribe they're going to do so a lot of things that aren't going to make sense and the thing is

00:24:54.580 people like you coming in from the south actually do not have the options that people who live in

00:25:03.460 that t2p postal district have or we don't even own a car excuse me the um so i'm sorry this is um

00:25:16.500 this is like a rear guard action i'll go down fighting we unfortunately got to pick up the

00:25:22.020 pieces at the end of it people's behavior won't change you said with dave you're not going to add

00:25:26.100 two more hours to your day and get on the crackhead laden train to ride that up to get to the office

00:25:32.340 every day what's going to happen is you're going to get a little bit poorer and you're going to

00:25:35.380 have to pay more just to get downtown and back i i can't get take the bus from printis we don't have

00:25:39.940 one so uh i guess i'd have to hitchhike if i wanted to change my behavior you know we can't

00:25:44.900 turn down our heat to an unsurvivable level that's the thing is these are fixed behaviors that

00:25:50.420 they're trying to change and it's not working i mean if they could make the case that it's working

00:25:54.340 still wouldn't like it but i could understand if there's no evidence this is changing everybody's

00:25:58.100 behavior it's just making them broke no well and all those thousands of cars that go over the fly

00:26:02.420 over every day they're still going to come downtown they just have to find other routes

00:26:06.740 and holy cow talk about uh rush hour traffic you know if this weird thing here we've not learned

00:26:12.820 anything since the second world war this was 1944 and the bow river was actually a

00:26:17.860 an obstacle to the advance of the Canadian Army.

00:26:22.000 They'd have the Royal Army Corps of Engineers down there.

00:26:25.760 They'd have something up for you in 12 hours

00:26:27.860 and something that was actually dependable in 24.

00:26:30.700 You know, why do we not think outside the box on things like this

00:26:37.740 and just say, fine, it's going to take 18...

00:26:41.800 I don't know why it takes 18 months to fix the Langevin Bridge,

00:26:45.120 But if it takes 18 months, fair enough.

00:26:48.500 Well, let's do something different while we're fixing it.

00:26:51.100 This is a big city.

00:26:52.460 We can do stuff like that.

00:26:53.840 And you see other countries build bridges in the weekend.

00:26:57.520 I mean, why is it?

00:26:58.860 I mean, again, we're way off topic here. 0.76

00:27:04.620 But 18 months to refurbish a 400-meter bridge is ludicrous.

00:27:10.620 The best discussions are always off topic.

00:27:12.560 Exactly.

00:27:13.160 stories that don't matter well all right well i'll bring it to a screeching hope something a lot

00:27:20.680 darker i'm afraid you can offer the bridges in the federal scene and then talk about medically

00:27:26.440 assisted assistance and death uh made because everybody knows it and then there's been challenges

00:27:32.040 and there's been adjustments and that now there's been a court ruling resolving i guess you could

00:27:35.560 say one of the challenges yeah we're well resolving for for 30 days it's a it's a really sad story a

00:27:41.560 a Calgary dad has applied for an injunction to stop his 27-year-old daughter from committing

00:27:47.920 suicide. She has autism and other disabilities that make her want to end her life. Dad sought

00:27:55.300 an injunction. Calgary Court of King's Bench Justice this week overruled the injunction and

00:28:02.720 set it aside so the woman now can go ahead and commit suicide. But he did uphold it for 0.99

00:28:11.180 30 more days because he knows it's going to be appealed. And the dad's lawyers, I'm sure,

00:28:17.080 are working on that. He'll go to the Alberta Court of Appeal. There'll be a ruling there.

00:28:21.880 That ruling will be delayed until the Supreme Court deals with it. So in the meantime, you've

00:28:28.100 got this poor woman who wants to kill herself, still living in the same house as her poor father 0.99

00:28:34.800 who wants to keep her alive as we wait for the story

00:28:40.440 to work its way through the justice system.

00:28:42.940 This is what they said would never happen.

00:28:46.720 Yeah.

00:28:48.340 You know, when we were first asked to accept medical assistance in dying

00:28:53.980 as a dignified way for people who were in the most severe pain

00:29:01.420 and only had a week to go or 10 days to go, like a very short time,

00:29:08.680 the example would always be something like a person with ALS, Ugueric's disease, dreadful way to go.

00:29:17.040 Let them depart early with the assistance of a doctor.

00:29:21.800 And, you know, even people who are against assisted suicide didn't really have an answer for that.

00:29:31.420 Like, what is it that you want to willfully make somebody suffer for seven days longer than they need to?

00:29:38.420 And so we lost the argument.

00:29:40.500 But we warned at the time that the seven days would become 14,

00:29:46.340 and the people whose death was imminently foreseeable would become the people whose death would take place at some future time.

00:29:57.280 um and the boundaries would be oh but we'll we'll never we'll never put it for young people

00:30:04.880 and never for the mentally ill i'm not saying this woman is mentally ill by the way just in case

00:30:10.400 uh but you know there is always going to be a fence around it well if a 27 year old woman 1.00

00:30:19.260 can, with apparently a supportive family,

00:30:24.640 can, no, no, I'm going to do it anyway,

00:30:27.340 and the court's prepared to back her. 0.86

00:30:31.200 It's what we said would always happen, and it has.

00:30:33.940 Well, in this woman's case, does she have a physiological ailment, 0.95

00:30:37.220 or is it just the autism?

00:30:39.420 I think the autism is the major one.

00:30:41.960 But, you know, she's got aches and pains,

00:30:45.440 and, you know, is uncomfortable all the time.

00:30:48.120 It's just, you know, that's where we get into some of these discussions.

00:30:53.820 I mean, it was also such a complicated realm.

00:30:59.000 We speak of somebody, then, if they're an adult and have their physiological faculties, let's face it, if you really want to end it, it's not that hard.

00:31:06.460 And people sadly do quite often through a number of means, you know, their pills or whatever other creative ways people unfortunately choose their end in their lives.

00:31:18.120 do you necessarily need the state to do it? I mean, again, if somebody's in a physiologically

00:31:26.120 restrained condition, they can't even get out of a bed, they're in agony. I mean, that's a whole

00:31:29.880 different ballpark, but we're talking about people that are quite able, and I'm not suggesting that

00:31:34.180 she should do it herself. I'm just saying that though, why now do we have this responsibility

00:31:39.000 of our health system and the state then to facilitate it? That's a quagmire. It really is

00:31:43.400 quagmire and uh you know i feel so sorry for the father and uh and you hope it works out well

00:31:49.480 well for the family and uh you know they're the test case and uh you know we haven't even got to

00:31:54.280 the mentally ill part yet i mean that's coming that's coming down the road and in the next year

00:31:59.480 or so when mentally ill people can take the choice we've got poor people who want to commit suicide 0.70

00:32:05.960 now because they can't afford the cost of housing and should that be allowed uh you know we we lead

00:32:11.880 the world in medically-assisted suicides.

00:32:15.140 We're wondering,

00:32:16.040 some of the people who are poor are saying they want

00:32:18.000 to do it because they're poor, but I wonder if they're not

00:32:19.940 using it to make a political statement.

00:32:21.900 Again, if you're so poor you can't make the bills and you want

00:32:23.980 to end your life, well, you can afford

00:32:25.920 a length of rope and do it, but you can

00:32:27.940 make a loud political

00:32:29.920 statement about your financial state

00:32:31.900 of being and how desperate you are

00:32:33.540 by using a challenge for this

00:32:35.860 policy. See, this has turned into a whole,

00:32:37.800 as you said, quagmire is the term.

00:32:40.600 Well, last year,

00:32:41.500 The last year for which we have the numbers, I think it was 2022, 15,000 medical-assisted dying cases,

00:32:52.520 only about 3,500 of the regular old-fashioned suicide.

00:32:57.820 And it's been a steady 3,500 to 4,000 for the last 10 years,

00:33:04.080 which is kind of as much of a statistics Canada as I've gone back.

00:33:07.800 And in that time, they've gone from zero medical assistance in dying to almost four times as many people taking medical assistance in dying as are committing suicide by other means.

00:33:25.040 You know, build it and they will come.

00:33:27.280 Well, yeah, and then people have been encouraging it.

00:33:29.000 Cases we've seen, there was a gentleman who did have some serious conditions.

00:33:32.000 That was a few years ago, and he actually recorded it on his phone.

00:33:34.740 he was in a hospital where the nurse was pretty much making it clear you know you're not going

00:33:39.620 to recover you're in terrible discomfort you really should be considering this did she tell

00:33:44.900 them that should they needed the bed as well well that was probably the underlying part of it you

00:33:49.460 know for a cold person who's looking at it you know well this guy's a goner in three weeks why

00:33:54.100 don't we just speed it up so we could put somebody else in it but somebody who might not have been

00:33:59.300 considering it previously when you get somebody making the pitch to you then there's a better

00:34:04.340 chance you're going to embrace it when perhaps you might know we've got veterans affairs people

00:34:08.980 telling veterans hey have you considered yeah how ludicrous it's also a big issue right now

00:34:15.140 in great britain where they don't have legally assisted suicide so the british people who want

00:34:20.580 to kill themselves have to fly to uh switzerland have it done in the clinic there and there's all

00:34:25.940 sorts of videoed uh handheld videoed people dying and saying their last message please you know

00:34:32.260 England, let's get on this, let's do this in England, bring in a law so we can have medically 0.93

00:34:37.540 assisted suicide in England, and that's their farewell to the world, and off they go. It's 0.98

00:34:42.900 becoming a huge political issue over there as well. Yeah, well, this will chew through more of

00:34:49.180 the courts, and there's not going to be any easy decisions. It's just one of those many times I'm

00:34:53.040 not envying a judge. I mean, you've also got an adult woman, even though she is living with her 0.96

00:34:57.240 father, there's a degree of autonomy. You know, you never stop being a parent, we know that.

00:35:03.000 But from the legal perspective, he doesn't really have any legal standing when it comes to her

00:35:08.920 her disposition, unless he can find her mentally incapable of her.

00:35:13.640 Yeah, unless with the courts of rule, she can do what she wants. 0.61

00:35:17.800 No, this, we have to talk about it in dispassionate terms, but this is always a horribly

00:35:25.800 personal and deeply deeply distressing discussion between whoever's involved i i do sympathize

00:35:35.840 with people who are dealing with a person who wants to kill themselves and they themselves

00:35:41.580 are torn because on the one side they can understand and empathize with the pain and

00:35:46.040 distress of the person who wants to go and at the same time unless it's truly a an als last

00:35:55.160 week of life situation, it's hard to get on board with the idea of facilitating their farewell.

00:36:01.960 It is, and again, we'll have those. I mean, now that they've moved into the realm of the mental

00:36:06.560 health issues, we've gone beyond the physiological. But I'll finish with just a bit on personal. You

00:36:12.060 guys kind of know, I share a bit, but my father has been debilitated. Mental health issues,

00:36:17.400 very serious. And he's very paranoid. He's quite, unfortunately, delusional in a lot of things. He's

00:36:23.740 doing okay physically for someone his age, but he's miserable. He is living in misery. He just 0.62

00:36:30.460 stares out a window all day. He truly feels that the world is out to kill him and things such as

00:36:37.100 that. And he lives in terror. Every knock on the door is the one who's going to take him out.

00:36:42.660 I'm not saying that I'd like to see that option applied to him, but I am kind of seeing how

00:36:49.080 horrible a life is when a mental health issue can still be quite agonizing if

00:36:54.840 you're enduring it and living within that weird world of a non-reality I mean

00:36:59.460 offering that that way out I don't see is appropriate but it's weird for us to

00:37:04.080 put ourselves in the shoes of others to to dismiss well it's just a mental

00:37:07.860 health issue okay but that can be pretty horrible to endure as well it can but

00:37:12.900 you know we i hope this comes out right we don't structure our world to accommodate people with a 0.70

00:37:21.940 broken leg because we hope that the leg will be healed and to define end-of-life issues

00:37:32.740 in terms of people who are mentally ill

00:37:38.360 is not a step forward.

00:37:43.220 No, no, I agree.

00:37:44.580 I'm just saying that it's where, again,

00:37:45.800 more of those complexities come in

00:37:47.060 when you start thinking about it.

00:37:48.120 Come out, right?

00:37:49.140 And he's not in a position to make that kind of decision either.

00:37:52.520 That's another thing altogether.

00:37:53.540 That's a...

00:37:56.540 We're going to be...

00:37:58.080 Our kids will be dealing with these legalities 1.00

00:38:00.900 and moral issues in this as well.

00:38:02.740 Well, we'll watch with morbid interest, I guess.

00:38:07.220 Getting on to some international issues.

00:38:10.300 Hands across the sea to Ukraine. 0.59

00:38:12.760 Yes, the Ukrainian ambassador to Canada was visiting Alberta,

00:38:18.680 actually came into our newsroom and met everybody.

00:38:22.200 Premier Smith held a press conference today in Edmonton

00:38:24.620 and demanded to send a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau

00:38:27.720 demanding more control for Alberta over immigration

00:38:30.700 and specifically Ukrainian immigration or refugees from the war with Russia.

00:38:38.580 Alberta's got the second highest number of Ukrainian descendants in Canada,

00:38:45.300 so it's a natural place for them to come.

00:38:48.220 And Alberta needs immigrants, so we've got the jobs we need to fill them, 1.00

00:38:53.300 so Alberta wants more power to do it, much like, I guess, Quebec does. 1.00

00:38:57.100 ambassador came in very nice young lady and then disappeared for 40 minutes with nigel 1.00

00:39:04.180 so i'll let nigel explain what she had to say just so that everybody knows she was actually

00:39:12.360 sitting where you are now sitting and i was sitting where corey was sitting and it was a

00:39:16.900 very good conversation so and i think it went on for a little longer than 40 minutes but whatever

00:39:22.540 it was there's a there's a lot going on here first of all we're appealing for ukrainian immigrants

00:39:28.780 do know that when the war is over ukrainian wants these people to go home again you know

00:39:35.120 they're they're they're looking at another missing generation over there this is a country that

00:39:40.240 lost population young people right after the first world war as a consequence of the russian

00:39:46.540 revolution they lost another generation during a whole lot of war when stalin starved them out

00:39:52.520 They lost another generation in the Second World War just with the devastation of the

00:39:59.560 Germans going this way and the Russians coming back that way. 0.70

00:40:03.240 Massive carnage.

00:40:04.240 Well, guess what?

00:40:05.240 We've got another war on, and people are leaving the country.

00:40:07.960 So the population is about 40 million, so it's actually about the same size as Canada.

00:40:13.920 The difference is Canada is growing, their population is declining.

00:40:18.580 So, I mean, by all means, if they want to come here, let's make them welcome, and let's put them to work.

00:40:24.340 But don't necessarily expect that we're going to keep them.

00:40:29.080 The other thing that she was, well, there was a lot in that interview, actually, and I would encourage people to tune in.

00:40:34.960 I know we're going to have it on our website here fairly soon.

00:40:39.900 But there are already people moving from Calgary to, speaking of energy specialists here,

00:40:46.620 there is a memorandum of understanding that's waiting to be signed between the government of

00:40:53.420 ukraine and the government of alberta that will facilitate the transfer of knowledge and i think

00:41:00.060 professional services from alberta to ukraine to help them get back on their feet usually you think

00:41:08.360 a reconstruction is something that happens after a war it's going to help their war effort to start

00:41:14.000 now, because obviously the energy component was one of the first things that the Russians

00:41:20.260 hit. So they want to bring that back. And then she actually, and I've got a column on

00:41:26.220 this, which again will be on the website later, and with a link to the interview, but she

00:41:32.520 is addressing the people who are losing interest, Canadians who are losing interest in the war

00:41:40.800 in Ukraine, of which there are quite a number. There was a poll that came out, I think it was

00:41:46.360 Angus Reid, maybe last week, that said that the number of people who said, you know,

00:41:52.700 just let it go, doubled. So something like 40 percent of Canadians who think that after two

00:42:03.580 years maybe they should do something else but at any rate they are saying explicitly that we're

00:42:11.660 spending too much time and providing too much aid to ukraine well obviously that's not what they

00:42:17.260 want to hear in kiev and so she was addressing that she made this point which i think is is

00:42:23.100 worth taking note of when you look at a map of the world you always look at the mercator projection

00:42:27.740 so you know canada's over here russia and ukraine are over there why are we bothering well instead

00:42:36.920 of looking at a mercator projection take a globe and then you've got canada here and russia just

00:42:42.760 over there i say just it's actually a fair you wouldn't want to try and swim it but they uh you

00:42:48.140 know what i'm saying it's a there is a proximity there and in between the two there is this

00:42:54.180 incredibly rich, apparently, seabed, which the Russians want to exploit. Well, we want to 1.00

00:43:02.600 exploit it, too, or at least we want to have the option of it. The time may come, said she,

00:43:08.340 when you might be glad of collective security and friends. So it's a point worth keeping in mind.

00:43:17.640 Meanwhile, I'm just, frankly, kind of proud of the Ukrainians I know for coming from a little

00:43:22.940 people it'll stick up for themselves when they're bullied you know what it's a good thing we have

00:43:26.940 all those nuclear subs prowling under the uh our canadian navy you know dry dock wherever they are

00:43:34.300 yeah she makes she makes a good point and uh uh you know you look at some of those uh videos of

00:43:41.340 towns that the russians have been through there's nothing left standing there's no homes no homes

00:43:45.740 left for them to go home to uh so you can understand them hey you know please come back

00:43:50.940 after the war. And there's nothing to say that Ukraine's going to win the war. Two years,

00:43:56.360 we're in a stalemate. They're running out of weapons and ammunitions, and the money is stalled

00:44:01.820 in Congress. I don't know if the Russians have the will to fight much more, but it's an ugly 1.00

00:44:08.460 stalemate over there at the moment. And again, I mean, if it stabilizes even under Russian control,

00:44:14.000 some of the Ukrainians here still might want to go back to the homeland. The war is over,

00:44:18.780 or whatever outcome it might be,

00:44:20.540 but you know, they want to be back where they...

00:44:23.680 So yeah, it's interesting,

00:44:24.520 you don't really think about that, you know,

00:44:25.580 not all immigrants are necessarily permanent ones.

00:44:27.700 They could be just, again,

00:44:29.400 trying to raise their family somewhere safe

00:44:31.220 until they can go home.

00:44:32.320 No, you can't blame me for that.

00:44:34.460 Anyway, look for the Hannaford column tonight.

00:44:36.500 Yes, and remind everybody to watch for those videos

00:44:38.880 on the Western Standard channels,

00:44:40.040 those interviews and things,

00:44:41.320 because there's more than just the Pipeline

00:44:42.920 and the Cory Morgan Show, we cover a lot out there.

00:44:45.720 Well, anyway, another thing Ukrainians are good with 1.00

00:44:47.680 is Easter eggs.

00:44:48.580 I can't forget how you pronounce that out of Vagerville or Paisenka or something like that.

00:44:52.980 Yeah, I don't know.

00:44:54.140 Did the ambassador tell you how they pronounce it?

00:44:56.420 It never came out.

00:44:57.360 Never came out.

00:44:58.080 Well, either way, nothing is sacred.

00:44:59.960 Even our more conventional Western Easter eggs now have been hit by the wolf, Dave.

00:45:06.740 Yeah, apparently Cadbury's, which, Nigel, being the historian on the table, will fill you in about Cadbury's.

00:45:13.420 but they're apparently selling not Easter eggs in England, but what is it?

00:45:19.200 A gesture.

00:45:19.960 Gesture eggs.

00:45:21.900 I guess they didn't want to offend Muslims at one of the most important Christian days of the year,

00:45:28.880 so they're now available to get gesture eggs.

00:45:31.340 So not even the good old Easter bunny is safe from the woke crowd, Corey.

00:45:37.280 And we know how well it worked out for Budweiser and Target and Dylan Mulvaney.

00:45:42.320 and it worked out okay for them because they're getting money.

00:45:46.580 Well, I gather that you can still get a Cadbury's Easter egg,

00:45:50.480 but the thing is they're also marketing these gesture eggs.

00:45:53.880 So this is the thin end of the wedge.

00:45:55.580 But what is so, I don't know if you are a history buff

00:45:58.480 and you take these things seriously,

00:46:00.340 and especially the significance behind the Easter itself.

00:46:05.840 It's very distressing.

00:46:06.980 I mean, the Cadbury family, they sort of rose in the 18th century

00:46:11.840 And during the height of the Victorian era, they became extremely successful as industrialists.

00:46:18.940 This was a Quaker family.

00:46:21.620 They were very conscientiously Christian.

00:46:25.340 They were abolitionists when it came to slavery.

00:46:28.420 They were the kind of people who had advanced ideas about providing good accommodation for their workers,

00:46:33.980 people who worked at their factories.

00:46:35.960 They tried to do good with the wealth that they got, and they made Easter eggs.

00:46:41.840 Well, the whole enterprise is now in the hands of people who have no sense of that history

00:46:49.300 and no wish to perpetuate it.

00:46:53.600 I predict that it will end badly.

00:46:56.140 And the other thing that I couldn't help noticing it, there's a church here in Calgary.

00:47:01.560 It's not a denomination that I'm familiar with.

00:47:05.000 The Unitarians, but I don't know what they believe,

00:47:08.460 but somehow they managed to accommodate a drag show into their Easter worship services.

00:47:15.140 So we live in strange times.

00:47:18.620 And we'll, you know, for those of us who do take the things of God seriously,

00:47:23.380 you know, and have a sense of what Easter is about and why it matters for everybody,

00:47:30.780 these are just more slaps in the face that...

00:47:33.460 Well, the Unitarians, I am familiar with them. 0.66

00:47:36.060 They're just a social club for leftists.

00:47:37.740 There are people who like to pretend they're going to a church, but actually rejected every tenet of the religion itself.

00:47:42.620 And they just get together and actually try to find ways to give finger to the traditions of the church.

00:47:47.720 And they've done it with the Easter.

00:47:49.820 And, you know, we've seen the Easter eggs go to the sideline.

00:47:51.740 But, you know, I'm sure a competitor will rise up and come up with Easter eggs. 0.58

00:47:54.980 I don't think people like that Easter.

00:47:55.980 Well, we've got to get Nigel his own show on the History Channel.

00:47:58.720 Yes.

00:47:59.920 I was just thinking we've got to get an Easter egg for this guy.

00:48:03.640 See, but, you know, the thing is, too, who was offended by them?

00:48:07.220 It wasn't Muslims. 1.00

00:48:08.380 You know, it was purple-haired, white-bred, woke-seller-dwelling liberal woman, 0.99

00:48:13.720 and that's all it took was three complaints, and they scrambled to make something else.

00:48:18.740 So, well, let the economy cure it. 1.00

00:48:20.920 It's unfortunate a long tradition was ruined by the woke fools and cowards, 1.00

00:48:24.240 but we're going to see more of it. 0.99

00:48:26.620 Oh, well, I think we've run out of time to wax on about these things,

00:48:30.740 so thank you very much for all of the contributions.

00:48:33.740 since we covered a lot of ground today, from the light to the pretty sad.

00:48:38.980 And, well, we'll do it all again next week.

00:48:41.200 Yeah.

00:48:41.480 Happy Easter to you and Jay and Nigel, to you and Judy.

00:48:44.520 And to everybody else out there listening and watching, it's a long weekend.

00:48:48.040 It's for Easter.

00:48:49.000 Get out there.

00:48:49.660 Enjoy, whether religious aspect or just getting together with family.

00:48:52.160 These weekends are four.

00:48:53.820 Take advantage of it.

00:48:54.820 The time goes fast.

00:48:55.940 So thank you for tuning in today, and we will see you all again next week.

00:48:59.940 Canadian Shooting Sports Association.

00:49:01.560 Without the CSSA, our gun rights would have been taken long, long ago.

00:49:06.380 These guys are on the front lines helping to draft smart and intelligent firearms regulations and legislation in Canada.

00:49:14.060 And more importantly, educating the public about how we keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people.

00:49:19.380 We've become a member. It's absolutely worth every penny.

00:49:24.200 You can become a Western Standard member for just $10 a month or $99 a year.

Western Standard - March 28, 2024

The Pipeline： Smith Guilbeault battle over April 1 taxes.

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